I know what they are trying to achieve with this show is that Muslims are regular folks like the rest of us. That maybe so. Of course if they wanted to prove that to me, they could skip the show and instead their leaders could publicly condemn terrorist acts by Muslim groups instead of becoming mute and going into hiding when an act is committed.

Unfortunately, a possible by product of this show on American TV might be is to start making people comfortable enough to let their guard down and forget about little things like, the war on terror, Sharia Law, and the fact that 90%+ of terrorists acts against America are committed by Muslims.

Saying all that, if they put the show on a trial bases opposite "Palin's Alaska" and any of it's re-runs, I might take a look.

Nevada has always been a state that not to many Presidential contenders paid much attention to. Caucus votes were not binding meaning that delegates could change their support away from whomever won the caucus. An article in the Las Vegas Sun points out That this could all be changing.

Republican party officials decided this month to prohibit delegates from switching their votes at the Republican National Convention. That makes Nevada a key state for GOP hopefuls, as candidates can count on the state’s votes to push them closer to a nomination.

The party set Feb. 18, 2012, as the caucus date (the same day as the Democrats’), making Nevada the third Republican contest nationally and the first in the West. Members chose a proportional system, rather than winner-takes-all.

With delegates being awarded proportionately, coming in a strong second may be something for some candidates to consider shooting for.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, potential candidates are looking now at Nevada from a whole new perspective.

As it stands now, according to recent polls, Mitt Romney is well ahead of the pack and has pretty much had the state to himself.

MSNBC recently gave a fair assessment of Mike Huckabee’s prospects for 2012, but Andrew Breitbart wants you to think otherwise: “Is MSNBC Promoting Huckabee for GOP Nomination?” Breitbart is implying that liberal MSNBC wants Huckabee to win and is therefore promoting him.

What exactly did MSNBC do to push Huckabee? Let's take it line by line.

(M) Huckabee is a likeable guy.

* Even Jim Geraghty at the Campaign Spot said, "I had a chance to hang around with the former Arkansas governor in a Fox News green room recently, and he reinforced my sense that it’s impossible to not like Huckabee personally."

(M) He's a Southern Baptist preacher. * True

(M) His problems are ones of structure. He does not like raising money, he’s admitted he does not like being measured by process and field operations.

* About raising money, Huckabee recently said when talking on the Alan Colmes radio show, “I love the retail end of politics. I hate the glad handing for money. I love talking to people who aren't necessarily the ones who can write the big checks.”

* Huckabee said this about process and field operations when interviewed by Bret Baier for the FoxNews 12 in 2012 series. Huckabee said, "It's a whole lot more about the money than it is the message. And so, because it's more process-focused than policy-focused, we end up not necessarily giving attention to the people with the best ideas, but giving attention to the people with the machinery and the money -- even if their message doesn't even sell."

(M) Polls that matter are going to be Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

* So he is pretty much saying that the CNN poll that Huckabee came out on top of doesn’t really matter.

(M) Ya know the thing about Huckabee, is if people like you, he has a lot of name recognition because he ran before and he has been on cable news.

* Huckabee said in his interview with Alan Colmes, “The one nice thing whether I should decide to run or not is that more people at least would know me by what I actually believe or say as opposed to what my opponent has defined me to be and that is kinda encouraging. If I would have had that opportunity four years ago, things might have turned out differently."

(M) He also has shown himself to be willing to come to the middle on some issues. He said about the first Lady’s obesity campaign that maybe Sarah Palin misunderstood what Michelle Obama was trying to do.

* Huckabee said in a recent radio interview with New York radio host Curtis Sliwa, "With all due respect to my colleague and friend, Sarah Palin, I think she's misunderstood what Michelle Obama is trying to do. Michelle Obama isn't trying to tell people what to eat or not trying to force the government's desires on people, but she's stating the obvious: that we do have an obesity crisis in this country."

(M) Here's a guy who famously lost about a hundred pounds. * True

(M) He has shown himself to be sorta this common sense guy who is not going to attack Democrats for the sake of attacking Democrats. That is something that could appeal to a lot of independents.

* Huckabee has been doing well in all the polling. The CNN poll showed Huckabee doing best among all groups:

* Which is why Andrew Breitbart has posted this video clip with the label that MSNBC is pushing Huckabee.

(M) He is the only candidate actually, who had the Club for Growth run ads against him in Iowa. So he had tons of attacks from fiscal groups on the right. All that money from Mitt Romney and Club for Growth, and he still won the 2008 Iowa primary. * True

(M) This just shows how wide open this thing is going to be.

* But even Steve Kornacki at Salon indicated that “But it's getting harder to ignore the polls: The same CNN survey that shows Palin's GOP support collapsing also shows -- not for the first time -- that Huckabee is the most popular '12 prospect in the party.

(M) Can you tell the political types are very eager for the political season to get underway here?

* Yes, that is why they are talking about the current polls and the race for 2012.

* What Breitbart fails to recognize when he mocks Huckabee for the fair assessment he received, is that the 2012 Republican nominee needs to appeal to Republicans, Independents and Democrats. We need to win back those Reagan Democrats who voted for Obama in 2008. Huckabee has a great chance to not only earn their vote, but make them Huckabee Republicans.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bob Abernethy host of Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly on PBS discuses issues ahead in 2011 with Kevin Eckstrom (Editor of Religious News Service), Kim Lawton (Managing Editor of Program), and EJ Dionne (Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution). Among the topics that were discussed were the upcoming race for the Republican nomination for President.

Here is the text from the Romney segment:

ABERNETHY: Now you were referring earlier to the fact that the beginning of 2011 may well seem like the beginning of the election campaign of 2012, E.J.

DIONNE: Right, and I think you’re going to see some sort of interesting positioning inside the Republican Party. I mean, we still don’t know if Sarah Palin is or is not going to run for president. Sarah Palin seems to be more representative of the Tea Party side of the right, although she has clearly some Christian conservative support. Mike Huckabee is going to be competing with her as the spokesperson for Christian conservatives, but every Republican running for president wants a piece of that vote, because it is such an important vote in the Republican primaries, and that’s going to start right now. It’s already started, before the show went on the air
ECKSTROM: And I think something worth watching there is Mitt Romney, who is at the front of a lot of these polls, these straw polls, whether or not he tries to make the case about his Mormon faith again with the evangelical base. A lot of people say, you know, he did that; he doesn’t need to do it again. Other people say that he’s never going to win them over; there’s a certain amount of the base that’s just never going to accept a Mormon candidate. So I think it will be interesting to watch how he navigates the Mormon question.

Below is the video of the entire program. To view the 2012 race comments only, fast forward to the 15:00 minute mark:

As far as I'm concerned, the answer to the Mormon faith question for Mitt Romney in 2012 is, been there, done that. I believe it's only an ongoing issue for those folks with a personal agenda or those who would prefer one of the other candidates instead.

Anyone who puts a high priority on family values, a strong work ethic, fiscal conservatism, and a vast and successful background and experience in business, the private and public sectors, and takes a hard look at Mitt Romney, will know immediately that he is equipped to help turn around the economy and to put America back on the right path towards better times.

UNKNOWN COSTS* Rental of office building in Kailua on canal* Security upgrades and additional phone lines* Costs for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel (Secret Service imports most of the cars used here to escort the president)* Surveillance before the president arrives* Travel costs for Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President

As much noise as was made about voters being mad at Washington this year, they actually react more favorably to their Senators than they do their Governors. The average Gubernatorial approval rating is 42% with 45% of voters disapproving. The average Senator was actually in net positive territory at 43% approving and 40% disapproving. 12 Governors have positive approval numbers, 16 have negative ones, and 2 split right down the middle.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

According to the Wall Street Journal, a megachurch on the outskirts of Des Moines will be sending out invitations to speak at this event to anyone who has indicated the slightest interest in being a candidate for President in 2012.

Likely 2012 presidential candidates have been sniffing around Iowa for months on book tours and under-the-radar speaking engagements. But now the entire field–all dozen or so possible GOP challengers–are being invited to a megachurch on the outskirts of Des Moines for a March 7th candidates’ forum–the first of its kind for 2011.

“I’d think that these potential candidates would like the chance to come have a dialogue with evangelical Christians,” said Mr. Scheffler, one of the state’s most prominent GOP organizers and a member of the Republican National Committee.

In an interview with Politico, Demint had this to say about Sarah Palin:

“We’ve never spoken, but she left me a nice message, and I believe she’s done more for the Republican Party than anyone since Ronald Reagan,” he said.

The article also pointed out this:

DeMint backed Romney in the 2008 presidential primary — but said he’s got “an open mind” about 2012.

“He’s obviously near the top of my list, he’s a good quality candidate and we’ve got others who are looking at it,” said DeMint, who also is getting encouragement from some conservative activists to run for president.

According to the Boston Herald, Christine O'Donnell is under a criminal investigation..

Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation of Delaware Republican Christine O’Donnell to determine if the former Senate candidate broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

PPP has done some analysis of Sarah Palin's Favorability numbers and they're not good.

It's a well known fact that Sarah Palin is the most unpopular major political figure in the country...one thing that may be less well known is that one of the states where voters have the dimmest view of her is her own home state of Alaska.

We've polled Palin's favorability in ten states over the last couple months. In Alaska just 33% of voters have a favorable opinion of her to 58% with a negative one. The only place where fewer voters see her positively than her own home state is dark blue Massachusetts.

In the battle for the GOP presidential nomination, the survey suggests Palin may have some work to do if she throws her hat in the ring. Only 49 percent of Republicans say that they are likely to support Sen. John McCain's running mate in 2008 for the Republican nomination in 2012.

"That's a huge 18-point drop since December of 2008, when two-thirds of GOPers said they were likely to support Palin. It also puts her well behind potential rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, and a bit behind Newt Gingrich as well," adds Holland.

I'm going to read you the names of a few people who might run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. For each one, please tell me whether you would be very likely, somewhat likely, not very likely, or not likely at all to support them if they decided to run for the Republican nomination in 2012.

In the first part of this series, I argued that the United States should increase border security (under caveats which I will explain later), but not because we have a crime problem in the border states. Empirical evidence shows the exact opposite. Of course, the crime myth is not the only one that prevails in the American psyche.

Myth #2: The United States government has done nothing to stop illegal immigration.

As with the crime claim, this myth is very easily shown to be false. According to the Arizona Daily Star,

Has the federal government really done nothing to secure the border?

Answer: You can question the effectiveness of the billions spent, but there's no denying the massive buildup of border enforcement over the last five to 10 years:

• The budget for Customs and Border Protection - the Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for border security - soared to $11.4 billion in fiscal 2010, up 90 percent from $6 billion in fiscal year 2004. That's nearly twice the growth of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) budget, which increased 54 percent to $5.7 billion in fiscal 2010, up from $3.7 billion in 2004. ICE is responsible for immigration enforcement at worksites and across the interior of the country.

• The number of Border Patrol agents on the U.S.-Mexico border has increased to 17,500, up from 9,700 in 2004. The Tucson Sector, which stretches from New Mexico to Yuma County, now has 3,300 agents, up from 2,100 in 2004 and 1,500 in 2000.

• The miles of fencing along the border have grown exponentially. There are now 350 miles of pedestrian fence and 299 miles of vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, for a total of 649 miles of barriers. That's up from 143 miles of barriers in 2006.

The Tucson Sector has 71 miles of pedestrian fences and 139 miles of vehicle barriers. In 2000, it had 11 miles of pedestrian fences and two miles of vehicle barriers.

Pedestrian fences are 12- to 18-foot-high barriers designed to stop, or at least slow down, people. Vehicle barriers are waist- to chest-high and are designed to stop cars.

• The agency has spent more than $1 billion since 2006 developing the SBInet "virtual fence," which tracks movement using a network of towers mounted with cameras, sensors and radar. But the program has been plagued by delays and glitches.

• In the past five years, the feds have twice sent the National Guard to the border to assist the Border Patrol. In Operation Jump Start, from 2006 to 2008, the government spent $1.2 billion to send 6,000 National Guard troops. In the current Operation Copper Cactus, the government is spending $135 million to send 1,200 troops.

• Homeland Security has devoted $225 million to border law enforcement agencies through Operation Stonegarden, including about $51 million to Arizona agencies. The program gives agencies money to pay officers who work overtime shifts aimed at securing the border. The money also buys four-wheel-drive trucks, radios and night-vision goggles.

What about deportations? Well, President Obama is breaking records. He has deported nearly 800,000 immigrants since taking office, which happens to be the highest number of deportations in any given two years in American history. The increased number of deportations has led to higher backlogs of immigration cases. In some areas of the countries, immigrants wait nearly 11 months before their case is settled. The $5.7 billion budget that ICE enjoyed in fiscal year 2010 simply has not been sufficient for the agency to keep up with the such high levels in deportations.

Should conservatives argue for increasing the budgets of Customs and Border Protection and ICE? Sure, I believe that it is necessary. But only under two caveats. First, cuts must be taken out of other areas of the government. May I suggest the Department of Defense? It would be the easiest place to find excess funds and it could also gain support from the Democrats. Regardless, conservatives must vote against any increase in government spending unless it is paid for by decreases in other agencies.

Second, and most importantly, more immigration enforcement must come with comprehensive immigration reform. For lack of a better term and at risk of labeling immigrants as a bunch of donkeys, the United States government needs a carrots and stick approach: more enforcement and a system and laws that provide immigrants with a legitimate chance of entering the country legally.

Mike Huckabee has the most governing experience out of any of the potential 2012 candidates.Gov Huckabee served Arkansas as governor from July 1996 through December 2006. He was voted one of the five best governors in 2005.

While Governor of the state of Arkansas, Huckabee:

- Doubled the child care tax credit in 1997.

- Eliminated the capital gains tax on the sale of a home.

- Indexed Arkansas’ state income tax to inflation, keeping people from being pushed into higher tax brackets.

- Cut taxes nearly 100 times in his state.

- Eliminated the state income tax for families below the poverty level.

- Left his state with almost $1 billion surplus, a state record.

- Cut welfare rolls by 50 %.

- Balanced the state budget of Arkansas every year he was governor in Arkansas.

- Led efforts to establish the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and a Property Taxpayer Bill of Rights for uniform notice and due process.

- Plus he made the interstate road system in Arkansas one of the best in the nation, where it had been among the worst, bringing in more trucking and trade. And the small tax the voters raised was repealed once the roads were complete.

-Carried out 16 executions in his time as governor of Arkansas which refutes his opponents’ claims that he’s soft on crime.

- Signed a ban on partial birth abortion.

- Worked to grant school administrators more flexibility in hiring and firing poor teachers.

- Moved Arkansas from grade “F” to a “C” in Charitable Choice compliance so Arkansas was only one of twelve states to pass.

All this was accomplished by Governor Huckabee while facing a legislature with 89 Democrats out of 100 legislators in the House and only four Republicans in the 35-seat Senate.

Huckabee served as governor for 10 1/2 years and left office only due to term limits.His approval rating was in the 60’s.

Since then, Mike Huckabee has done a great job talking about the fiscal/economic issues that our country is facing. Fox Business Network has posted these on Youtube.You can view many of them here.

In North Carolina we see a good old log jam with Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin tied at 21%, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney tied at 18%, and the rest of the Republicans combining for 12%. This is another state where Romney's conservative problem rears its head. He has a strong advantage with moderates as 30% of them say he's their top choice with none of the other Republicans rising above 15%. But he posts yet another fourth place finish with conservatives at only 14%, with Palin at 24%, Gingrich at 22%, and Huckabee at only 19%.

Mike Huckabee barely edges Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, 23-21-18, with Sarah Palin at 13%, Ron Paul at 8%, Tim Pawlenty at 4%, Mitch Daniels at 2%, John Thune at 1%, and 10% undecided. Romney tops with moderates over Huckabee and Gingrich, 25-23-15, but they make up only a quarter of the votes. The 70% who call themselves conservative break down very similarly to the overall electorate.

PPP surveyed 400 usual Florida Republican primary voters from December 17th to 20th. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.9%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.

It's that time of year again. I thought it might be fun to come up with some New Year's resolutions. No, not for us. For the potential 2012ers. YOUR LEAST FAVORITE 2012er. Feel free to write resolutions for any potential candidate not shown in the photo as well. Also feel free to add resolutions that you feel may be missing to those of others.

8. When playing base guitar on your show, start doing a Milli Vanilli version. Those who appreciate music will appreciate it.

7. When barbecuing squirrel, remember that squirrel roe should be well cooked before consuming.

6. Never again say, "No new taxes", especially just before you raise them. People tend to remember these things.

5. If you run in 2012, promise to shadow Chuck Norris again. His and your everyone's against me/anti-wealth shpeel has become your trademark. And like you, very ineffective.

4. Perhaps as a follow up to 'A Simple Christmas'. your next entry into the literary world could be a piece on the Easter bunny. Nothing to deep. You want to keep your support base happy.

3. As to not look the part of a fool, before denying you said something, make sure there is no video of you saying it out there first.

2. Limit the phrase, "I didn't mean that" to no more that 5 uses per day.

1. If you ever sit on a jury, remember how hard it was for the jury to reach a decision of innocence or guilt. Also remember the thought that was put into deciding a sentence. A jury decision and/or sentence should not be altered unless it is by another jury. No one person is smarter than a jury. Even if they are a Governor of Arkansas.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

You want to laugh. Go to Conservatives4Palin and read Ian Lazaran's recent rant against Lisa Murkowski.

Notice how many times Lazaran refers to himself and his fellow Palinistas as operating within the "center-right." Then notice how he attacks "moderate" Lisa Murkowski.

Ha, ha, ha. I understand the politics of Lazaran's word games. The only people on earth that have taken a fancy to Mrs. Palin are the most conservative members of the Republican base. This is why Palin's numbers are so terrible. So it must be time for Lazaran and his fellow personality cult followers to try to pass off Palin as "center-right."

Of course, we could just look at all of the polls that have come out since 2008 that show how moderates, and those who operate in the center of politics, view Palin. But most polls don't question 'centrists.' They questions 'moderates,' a group that overwhelmingly dislikes Palin. So Lazaran is trying to persuade us that moderates are bad and centrists are good. And Palin is center-right, but not one of those icky, moderate establishment types.

Lazaran's piece is comparable to when he tried to argue that there are five reasons why Palin is more experienced than the past five Presidents (qualification number #2: her ten years volunteering for the PTA-- ha, ha, ha). Or the time when Conservatives4Palin argued that Palin is a quitter because she refused to quit (Don't ask me to try to explain that piece -- but still -- ha, ha, ha).

Here is the lesson that we get from C4Palin. Nobody takes them seriously. They are comic relief, if not sad, pathetic people who hang on the words of one person that they have probably never met. Here's to hoping that 2011 will see the bloggers at Right Speak engage in thoughtful, rational discourse. Let's not become a hodgepodge of personality cult followers. I like Romney, but I will be the first to criticize him when he is wrong and the first to admit his weaknesses. I hope that everyone on this site can do the same, even if they already support a particular candidate.

Last week's decision by Nevada Republicans to set a Feb. 18 date for their 2012 presidential caucuses may set off a domino effect that would push the primary season into January.

New Hampshire state law mandates that their primary must be at least 1 week before the next contest that would move it down to February 7. And because Iowa generally goes eight days before New Hampshire, a Feb. 7 New Hampshire primary could force Iowa to hold its caucuses on Jan. 30.

The Republican Party had been trying to set a calendar that would begin the primary season in February and limit the early states to Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

I don't know if this change matters much or will have any effect on the eventual outcome. I'm just happy that Nevada is still right after New Hampshire. If you know what I mean?

The other day I was watching a segment on Fox News about the killing of border agent Brian Terry. It struck me that had I not already done extensive research on the subjects of immigration, the drug war, and Mexico, I would have come to conclusions that are the exact opposite of what is actually taking place on our Southwest border. So let me repeat a line that I have argued to conservatives for some time now: we need to build the conservative movement on reality, not on populist hysteria.

Having that in mind, I will be starting a short series on the immigration problem. I believe that the conservative position ought to be greater border security, comprehensive immigration reform, and a pathway to legalization for current, undocumented workers. This series will seek to dispel some of the myths surrounding our immigration system, so that the conservative movement can base their policies on facts and not on cultural resentment.

Myth #1: Violence is out of hand on our border.

The scope of empirical evidence is so largely against this tall tale, that it seems hardly worth even mentioning. That is, if it wasn't for the fact that Fox News and conservative leaders preach it on a daily basis. I don't have time and space to fully summarize all of the data that debunks this myth, but here are a few snippets.

Both contemporary and historical studies, including official crime statistics and victimization surveys since the early 1990s, data from the last three decennial censuses, national and regional surveys in areas of immigrant concentration, and investigations carried out by major government commissions over the past century, have shown instead that immigration is associated with lower crime rates and lower incarceration rates.Second

In particular, ﬁrst-generation immigrants (those born outside the United States) were 45 percent less likely to commit violence than third-generation Americans, adjusting for individual, family, and neighborhood background. Second-generation immigrants were 22 percent less likely to commit violence than the third generation. This pattern held true for non-Hispanic whites and blacks as well. Our study further showed living in a neighborhood of concentrated immigration was directly associated with lower violence (again, after taking into account a host of correlated factors, including poverty and an individual’s immigrant status). Immigration thus appeared “protective” against violence.

Even as the undocumented population has doubled to 12 million since 1994, the violent crime rate in the United States has declined 34.2 percent and the property crime rate has fallen 26.4 percent.Cities with large immigrant populations such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Miami also have experienced declining crime rates during this period.Among men age 18-39 (who comprise the vast majority of the prison population), the 3.5 percent incarceration rate of the native-born in 2000 was 5 times higher than the 0.7 percent incarceration rate of the foreign-born.

The first is that, by and large, crime is down across the board. In Arizona as a whole, it has dropped 12 percent in the past seven years. But in major Maricopa County cities with their own police forces -- Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale and Tempe -- the rate has dropped even faster. (The group measured within Maricopa County because it is the epicenter of the immigration debate. But in Tuscon, which is not in the county, there has also been a drop in the crime rate since 2002, according to law enforcement statistics)

The FBI's uniform crime reports show violent crime is no more prevalent in border cities than in nonborder cities.

Since 2001, the average violent-crime rate in eight border cities declined, and it has remained below the national violent-crime rate since 2005, said an August 2010 report by the Congressional Research Center, which reviewed FBI crime reports from 1998 to 2008.

In Tucson and Phoenix - the two largest cities on the smuggling route through Arizona - murder and violent crime decreased from 2005 to 2009, FBI data show.

The ratio of assaults on Border Patrol agents dipped 36 percent across the Southwest border from 2007 to 2010.

Are there drug traffickers operating in the United States? Of course. Americans consume more drugs than any other nationality in the world. There are drug traffickers all over the United States. Is Arizona falling to the violence that we read about going on daily in Mexico? No.

It seems the conference goal is to better the relationship between center right Hispanics and the Republican Party. Jeb Bush and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez will co-chair the event.

There is already buzz out there as to which of the 2012 hopefuls will attend this event. At this point, only Tim Pawlenty is a yes. Mitt Romney, John Thune, Mitch Daniels, and Rick Perry have declined.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The official website for the U.S. Naval Institute reports some sobering wordsfrom former nuclear plans monitor Vice Admiral Jerry Miller, USN (Ret). After reading this, and the opinions of other opponents of the treaty, it's difficult to determine how we benefit from this.

“...The Obama administration is continuing a dated policy in which we cannot even unilaterally reduce our own inventory of weapons and delivery systems without being on parity with the Russians,” Miller told the U.S. Naval Institute in Annapolis, Md. “We could give up plenty of deployed delivery systems and not adversely affect our national security one bit, but New START prohibits such action - so we are now stuck with some outmoded and useless elements in our nuke force.”

[...]

“The Soviets/Russians were done in by Reagan and our missile defense program because they cannot afford to build such a system,” said Miller. “They instead try to counter our program with rhetoric at the bargaining table. And they won by outmaneuvering Obama. START plays right into their hands.”

[...]

“We have always been superior in quality of our nuclear force, so we did not have to negotiate with a party we do not trust,” said Miller. “If Obama wanted to save some money and improve national defense, he should have gotten out of the nuke negations and acted unilaterally. START is simply a political victory for Obama.”

[...]

“The treaty prohibits the conversion of an existing ballistic missile system into a missile defense system,” said Miller. “We might want to do that with a Trident or an ICBM sometime in the future, particularly if the Chinese alleged threat materializes.”

Here's a list of the eleven Republicans who voted in favor of the treaty:

Brown and Murkowski have been particularly reliable in helping to enact Obama's agenda as of late. Unfortunately, there probably isn't anything we can do about those two. However, I suspect Cochran, Isakson, Voinovich, and Corker will likely face hotly contested primaries when their current terms are up.

One of the key arguments made by American proponents of New START is that the language in the treaty’s preamble linking strategic offensive and defensive weapons is nonbinding. Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who has been leading the fight for ratification, said during floor debate that the treaty’s preamble is “a component of the treaty that has no legal, binding impact whatsoever.”

Moscow apparently has a different view of the preamble.ITAR-Tass, the main Russian government information agency, reported last week: “The treaty will have a legally binding provision on the link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons and will affirm the increasing importance of this link amid the reduction of strategic offensive weapons.”

Several Republican-authored amendments to the treaty that sought to alter the preamble were voted down, based in part on assertions that the preamble had no legal standing.

There were two bombings today in Rome. As I was viewing the following video I thought to myself, with America's laissez-faire attitude about our national security, (see my previous post), is this a glimpse of some of what we have to look forward to in our future?

A Washington Post article suggests maybe so:
Midway through Philip Rucker and Paul Kane's story about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's transition to minority leader comes an interesting bit of news. The California Democrat, vilified by Republicans in the last election, has turned to director Steven Spielberg for help rebranding House Democrats.

Lawmakers say she is consulting marketing experts about building a stronger brand. The most prominent of her new whisperers is Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director whose films have been works of branding genius. Lawmakers said Spielberg has not reported to Pelosi with a recommendation.

How many more of our American border agents must perish before President Obama feels that it is important enough to secure our border along Mexico?

Today, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was confronted by the news media after fallen border agent Brian Terry's funeral service. It appears like most Americans, the Terry family isn't buying what President Obama and Janet Napolitano are selling.

Just how bad is it at the border? I posted the following thread back in June as just ONE EXAMPLE of just how bad it is there. It doesn't appear that much has changed:

===========================================

A park in Arizona popular with hikers and off road vehicles, now has signs warning residents of the drug and Human Smugglers.

Two men shot earlier this week could be the result of the ongoing battle between Mexican drug cartels now spilling over deep into Arizona, officials say.
Pinal County investigators say an area known as the smuggling corridor now stretches from Mexico's border to metro Phoenix.

Bill O'Reilly discusses the situation there with Pinal County Sheriff:

In a related topic, Mexico's President Calderon directly blamed the United States for the drug smuggling problem..

"The origin of our violence problem begins with the fact that Mexico is located next to the country that has the highest levels of drug consumption in the world," Calderón wrote. "It is as if our neighbor were the biggest drug addict in the world."

If we're going to continue to let Mexican drug and Human smugglers to run rough shot on our U.S. soil, maybe President Obama should consider giving them their own area. I say leave Arizona alone. Maybe he can cut a chunk out of Mexifornia instead.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Where Romney leaves Huckabee and Palin in the dust is with moderates, independents, and the 45+ year olds. You know, the people who ACTUALLY vote!

Since I've heard this line repeated on sevaral occasions in recent days, I feel obligated to set the record straight. According to the most recent national GOP primary poll by PPP, Palin out-polled all others in both the "45-65" age group, and the "65+" age group. This phenomenon has played out in a large number of PPP's recent state by state polls as well. In addition, her favorable numbers are the highest among these age groups.

If what Bosman says is true in regards to older voters, Palin appears to be in great shape!

This is a follow-up to Revolution 2010'spost on Mitt Romney and independent voters. In it, the data points out that Mitt Romney is by far the most popular Republican among this group. The following is current data for 7 states of the last states polled by PPP. In relation to Obama, these are the results for Independents:

The reason I'm bringing this up is that according to current data supplied by Pollster.Com, Independents lead both Democrats and Republicans in numbers:

Note: The following graph would not embed. To view the graph and it's data, click on the photo of the graph below. Once there, drag your mouse over the dots on the line graphs for specific data.

It is obvious from these figures, that in order to win a general election in 2012, you will NEED INDEPENDENTS. You can't win the general election with just Republicans.

According to PPP polling, President obama has a slight lead in head-to-head match-ups in Florida. Mitt Romney has the best chance of beating him there and is only behind by 2 points.

A Mitt Romney nomination would make the race in the Sunshine State neck-and-neck, with Obama prevailing only 46-44, but the president would beat the other four by at least five points: Mike Huckabee, 49-44; Newt Gingrich, 47-42; and Sarah Palin by a whopping 52-38. He would also lead a hypothetical challenger, new conservative darling Marco Rubio, 48-40.

PPP surveyed 1,034 Florida voters from December 17th to 20th. The survey’s margin of error is +/-3.0%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.